Episode 13: A Night on the Beach
With Bingle under siege from an unknown enemy, the team must race to gather information and find a way to defend the island’s survivors before the sun sets, and terrifying creatures emerge from the sea to attack once again. Will Lily’s family last another night on the beach? __TOC__ ---- 'DM/GM Intro' It started as a simple dungeon run… Five adventurers emerged from the dungeon with an incredible relic of chaos magic. An amulet that allows them to communicate with you, the watchers of the time stream, and serves as a conduit for your forces of good and evil. That amulet also set them off on an adventure to save the great Wardens of Ain - towering protectors of the realms, who seem to have been captured, one by one. The search for one of these Wardens has led the team to the sea, aboard a sailing vessel known as The Tardy Plunder. The ship, and her crew, were hired by a wizard of the Natural Order, a group that has been tracking the disappearance of the Wardens. Specifically, a mage named Claudiette Mormthallow believes the path to the next Warden leads into the Deep Reef, a stretch of dangerous waters in the eastern part of The Lost Sea. But when our team arrived on the Tardy Plunder and began adjusting to life aboard ship, they soon learned devastating news. Bingle, the resort island home of Lily Dumblestuck, had been suffering under a series of attacks. The ship’s own cook had lost a hand on Bingle, and four crew members died rescuing him from the carnage. Shocked and horrified - and worried about her family - Lily summoned the power of the amulet to grant her influence over the ship’s captain, Mervis Blowhard, forcing him to turn the ship around and plot a course back to Bingle. But that journey was not without its own perils. A storm ravaged the ship, nearly costing Uggo his life when he was cast overboard by turbulent waves. And just as the seas calmed, a group of harpies emerged from the clouds, using their luring song to entice members of the crew into the icy waters as well. Siv only narrowingly escaped the ocean’s deathly embrace, but the ship’s helmsman, Loudmouth the Mute, was not so lucky, falling into the raging sea, and drifting off to his final resting place. Though casualties were suffered, the team weathered the harpies’ vicious attack, and made it within rowing distance of Bingle. And row they did. Setting off from the ship in a dingy, Uggo single-handedly heaved the team through the water, as the rest of them... attempted to speak to seagulls and troll for fish. The fish they caught was an odd one, indeed. A fearsome hybrid with razersharp teeth and a crustacean’s legs, that they eventually turned into an enjoyable meal. But that joy was fleeting. Though a hastily scrawled sign warned them to Turn Back, the team arrived on the shores of Bingle to find the jovial resort boarded up and empty. Not a soul was in sight until Lily sang her Bingle greeting song, which caught the attention of two of her sisters, Karit and Goldie. They took the group back to the residence of Grammy Willowisp Dumblestuck - the matriarch of Bingle island - where a small group of survivors were holed up, hiding out in the basement. Lily reconnected with her father and shared a song with her grandmother, who, even having suffered grievous wounds and the loss of her leg to the attacks, seemed optimistic about the future of her beloved home. The beach gnomes, battered and bereaved, nevertheless remained defiant and courageous. They offered our heroes as much information as they could about the attacks, gave them a mighty iron harpoon that they had retrieved from the beach, and pointed them in the direction of Old Pal, the island’s longtime custodian, who claims to have bested one of the creatures that emerges from the sea every night in search of new victims. As we ended last week, our team emerged from the dark basement into the tropical island morning, a sense of urgency gripping them as the sun made its way across the sky, bringing night… and night’s terrors, ever closer. ---- ---- 'Episode Stats' ' ' Category:Episodes